Determinism vs Free Will

Free will cannot clearly win the determinism vs free will debate. Actually, the causal, logical or theological determinists suggest that there is no freedom at all. According to them, an act of will, which is the inevitable result of a series of causes from the beginning of time, can never be free. Since the known cosmos is the outcome of causes and effects, all human choices can only be the result of earlier causes. Only an entity outside the physical world, a soul, a mind independent of the body, or “a ghost in the machine” can have a free will. Only God can be imagined as having unlimited freedom of choice. While it is self evident that human freedom has limits, this article defines "free will" as the freedom to act, within reasonable limits. In reality, even such a limited freedom has limitations. We live more in a deterministic world.

A plane on autopilot can be considered to have the freedom to make a few choices. In the human mind, the final choice is not made by a conscious awareness, a conscience, or even animal instincts. The mind is more or less imprisoned in a deterministic world.

Causal, logical and theological determinists deny the existence of a free will.

Conscious awareness may be a non physical emergent property of the mind, but it does not make decisions.

The Kezwer approach can help you to check out the WASP controls, which limit the freedom of your will.

Ultimately, inherited codes decide the switch between entities within the triune brain. Free will operates within these limitations.

Consequentialist approaches to crime and punishment are still justified, because they impact the deep inherited wisdom of the mind.

Determinism
VS Free Will -A Deterministic PrisonEven
a machine can be said to have a limited freedom, if its internal
mechanisms makes a few informed choices. The autopilot on an airplane
makes navigational choices. Since those choices are made by its own
internal mechanism, the plane can be said to be free to a limited
extent. Even if the mechanism is responding automatically to wind and
speed conditions, the plane still has the freedom to make that
limited set of choices. Human beings have three pivotal
intelligences, which participate in the living experience - conscious
awareness, a conscience and animal instincts. Since the final
decisions are not made by any of the three systems, the human will is
ultimately confined within a deterministic prison. Only a few great
saints can claim to have broken free.

Determinism
VS Free Will -Causal, Logical And TheologicalDeterminists
hold that everything, including our choices, are the necessary
results of a sequence of causes. Chrysippus said “Everything that
happens is followed by something else which depends on it by causal
necessity. Likewise, everything that happens is preceded by something
with which it is causally connected. For nothing exists or has come
into being in the cosmos without a cause. The universe will be
disrupted and disintegrate into pieces and cease to be a unity
functioning as a single system, if any uncaused movement is
introduced into it.”

Causal
determinists propose the Laplace's demon thought experiment. Imagine
an entity, which knows all the laws of nature and all past and
present facts. Such an entity will theoretically predict exactly how
you will act. Logical determinists suggest that since a future event
is either true, or false, your action tomorrow can only be the
action, which is one of two possible true predictions today. For
theological determinists, an omnipotent entity has decided and knows
your action tomorrow. In all three cases, a free will is impossible.
But, there are compatibilists, who believe that a free will can
coexist with determinism.

Determinism
vs Free Will -Religious ViewsReligions
generally support the concept of a free will, while believing in an
omnipotent creator. The primary approach of Christian belief makes
free choice logically impossible. But, the philosopher Kierkegaard
suggested that divine omnipotence cannot be separated from divine
goodness. A good God could create beings with true freedom over God,
because "the greatest good ... which can be done for a being,
greater than anything else that one can do for it, is to be truly
free."

According
to Islamic doctrine free will is the main factor for man's
accountability. All actions taken by man's free will are said to be
counted on the Day of Judgment, because they are his own and not
God's. The concept of karma in Hinduism is generally linked to the
determination of a person's destiny in future lives.

For
Buddhism, the idea that a person has complete freedom of choice is
foolish, because it denies the reality of one's physical needs and
circumstances. Equally incorrect is the idea that we have no choice
in life or that our lives are predetermined. To deny freedom would be
to undermine the efforts of Buddhists to make moral progress, freely
choosing compassionate action.

Determinism
vs Free Will -The Triune BrainThe
Inherited Codes of the triune
brainconfine
the human mind within a deterministic prison. An intuitive
decision makingprocess
swiftly switches the human levels of consciousness between the raw
emotions of a reptilian brain, the social restrictions of a mammalian
brain and the rational common sense of RI,
a prefrontal brain. Those Codes restrict your choices. Imagine the
command center of a business, where a set of rules pass controls
between several competing business units. The codes restrict the
access of the command center strictly to the advice of the business
unit in charge. Since controls are shifted according to rules,
neither the business units, nor the command center are free to make
decisions. The same for you. Inherited Codes grant precedence to
anger signals. Your amygdala takes charge. Your consciousness has
awareness only of the reasons for anger. Deterministic rules envelop
you in anger and silence the will of your common sense.

Determinism
vs Free Will -Consciousness Is Merely A MirrorWithout
your permission, you shift between different levels
of consciousness.
You are just a belated observer of the activities of your mind.
Benjamin Libet studied subjects who voluntarily pressed a button,
while noting the position of a dot on a computer screen, which
shifted its position every 43 milliseconds. The noted moment of
depressing the button was the moment of conscious awareness; the
exact instant the subject thought the button was pressed. Each time,
Libet had also timed the beginning of motor neuron activity in the
brains of his subjects. He discovered that awareness occurred 350
milliseconds AFTER the beginning of motor activity. When you strike
out in anger, the system has already enveloped you in an angry level
of consciousness. Your conscious awareness lives in a deterministic
world.

Determinism
vs Free Will -An Emergent ConsciousnessA
free will is conceivable if your consciousness exists outside the
physical world. While science has discovered the neural correlates of
consciousness, nothing in the physical world can explain your
subjective experience of the three dimensional world of color, sound
and sensations. While billions of nerve cells fire to enable you to
subconsciously recognize the ideas in this page, or manage your
heartbeat and breathing, there is an entity, scientifically linked to
a small fraction of the multi-billion cell network, which sees the
words on this page - conscious awareness.

In
the theory of complex systems, emergence is the effect, where new
patterns arise out of myriad simple interactions. New properties do
emerge at higher levels of complexity. Psychology emerges from
biology and biology from chemistry. The whole completely differs from
the sum of its parts. Could consciousness emerge into a non physical
knowledge dimension as the complexity of a neural network increases?
But even if consciousness is nonphysical, Libet's experiments suggest
that it still does not control the system. Consciousness shifts
powerlessly between its own conflicting levels.

Determinism
vs Free Will -The Kezwer ApproachA
study of free will delves into the decision making processes of your
mind. The best way to conduct this inquiry is to conduct a few
thought experiments. Glen Kezwer advocated using your own mind as a
research lab to study experience. "The cost to the government
exchequer and the people is nil, no research grants need be applied
for, no progress reports are necessary and there is no need to be
concerned about the renewal of funding. There is also no pressure to
publish papers, technical reports or books on the experiment."
Look within your own mind and decide if your will is
free.

Determinism
vs Free Will -A Helpless WillWithin
the triune brain, the prefrontal region is known to be the seat of
judgment, with the ability to decide on the moral implications of a
course of action. When the will of the prefrontal region makes
decisions, a person exercises his will. The philosopher Rudolf
Steiner suggested that true freedom of action existed only “when
conscious awareness was integrated with moral imagination in making
decisions.” Free will is the freedom of the individual to choose a
course of action without external coercion in accordance with his/her
ideals or moral outlook.

Try
this thought experiment. Can your will raise your hand? Yes, when you
are sitting quietly in your room. But, suppose you are in an elevator
with other passengers. Then, it is inappropriate to raise your arms.
If you will this action in that situation, it will not happen. If you
continue the Kezwer experiments, you will find that your will is
overruled, when an action is not Worthwhile, Appropriate, Safe, or
Practical (WASP). It is obvious that will, as expressed by the
prefrontal regions, is by no means free.

Paul
Eckman, the famous emotions scientist acknowledges this lack of
conscious controls. "We become aware a quarter, or half second
after the emotion begins. I do not choose to have an emotion, to
become afraid, or to become angry. I am suddenly angry. I can usually
figure out later what someone did that caused the emotion." The
Inherited Codes in the limbic system decide, whether you should be
angry, or afraid. That is hardly the prescription for a free will.
You live life within an undeniably a deterministic system.

It
can always be argued that, within the limitations of WASP, a person,
who has gained complete control over his emotions, can be expected to
be able to completely exercise his free will. But, in a general view
of determinism and free wiil, this limited freedom to act can hardly
be considered to be an exercise of a true "Free Will." The
system still will not permit you to act against the WASP
controls.

Determinism
vs Free Will -Moral Responsibility & DeterminismIn
the present day systems of justice, jurors have a libertarian view of
free will and moral responsibility. At the extreme end, no person can
be responsible for an action, which could have been predicted from
the beginning of time. Neither can a person be blamed, if his action
was randomly generated by his nervous system. In real life also,
neither will, emotions, or levels of consciousness can decide,
without being over ruled by the Inherited Codes, which switch
controls between them, within the triune brain. Even damage to the
prefrontal regions reduces a person's judgment and increases the
possibility of violent crime.

The
real existence of a deterministic system can lawfully question the
true responsibility of a guilty party. But, the Inherited Codes,
which switch control systems within the triune brain have vast
inherited and acquired knowledge. Those Codes enable the system to
have a powerful intuitive perception of the concept of crime and
punishment.

Those
Inherited Codes apply the WASP controls, which rule the system. Those
Codes knowthe
consequences of crime. Consequentialist approaches to justice, aimed
to promote future welfare rather than mete out just deserts, are
needed, in spite of the deterministic restrictions on free will. The
Inherited Codes are determinsitic, but intuitively wise. They will
respond logically to the possibility of consequences.

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